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Petrified students clung onto a ledge at Charles University as a gunman carried out a frenzied attack in Prague.
Shocking video footage shows around seven people huddled together and crouched down in an apparent attempt to hide from the shooter.
The gunman killed 10 people and injured 30 others before he was “eliminated” by police, Czech emergency services reported. Nine people are understood to be in a serious condition.
Petr Nedoma, director of the Rudolfinum Gallery at a concert hall across Palach Square, told Czech TV he saw the shooter.
“I saw a young person on the gallery who had some weapon in his hand, like and automatic weapon, and shooting toward the Manes Bridge. Repeatedly, with some interruptions, then I saw as he shot, put hands up and threw the weapon down on the street, it lay there on the pedestrian crossing,” he said.
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Police officers in a van secure the area in Prague
" srcset="https://static.independent.co.uk/2023/12/21/16/1c4530fbe9ab45f49baeef1c80b765ee-1.jpg?quality=75&width=320&auto=webp 320w, https://static.independent.co.uk/2023/12/21/16/1c4530fbe9ab45f49baeef1c80b765ee-1.jpg?quality=75&width=640&auto=webp 640w" src="https://static.independent.co.uk/2023/12/21/16/1c4530fbe9ab45f49baeef1c80b765ee-1.jpg" data-gallery-length="2" class="i-amphtml-fill-content i-amphtml-replaced-content" pinger-seen="true">
Police officers in a van secure the area in Prague
(AP)
The police arrived to calls of a shooting in the popular Jan Palack Square, shortly after 3pm.
An email sent to Charles University staff and students said a shooter was in one of its buildings and had told staff to “stay put”.
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“The entire building is currently being evacuated and there are several dead and tens of injured at the site,” officers said on social media.
Police gave no details about the victims or the circumstances of the gunfire in the Czech Republic’s capital.
The police department had said the square was sealed off and urged people to leave the surrounding streets and stay inside.
Jana Postova, a spokesperson for Prague‘s rescue service, confirmed numerous people were injured but had no details.
One student claims the gunman tried to enter his classroom, the photo shows a door barricaded with tables and shares.
Jakob Weizman, a student at the university, shared on X: “Currently stuck inside my classroom in Prague. Shooter is dead but we are waiting to be evacuated.”
Klara, a student, told news website iDnes.cz she was among those who police evacuated from the building.
"It was terribly scary, there were a lot of policemen everywhere, who were shouting at us with submachine guns, telling us to run outside," she said.
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1/ 2Terrified students hang from balcony to hide from gunman in Prague
Terrified students hang from balcony to hide from gunman in Prague
Police officers in a van secure the area in Prague
AP
Terrified students hang from balcony to hide from gunman in Prague
The police arrived to calls of a shooting in the popular Jan Palack Square, shortly after 3pm
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